Short messaging Service (SMS) are being used increasingly particularly by mobile telephone users. One of their principal uses to date is for sending text messages from one mobile telephone user to another, for example, confirming an appointment, or just simply sending a greeting. Short Message Service (SMS) is rapidly becoming the messaging medium of choice for larger and larger segments of the public. It enables the sending of short text messages to wireless phones, and in this way it enables mobile phone users the benefits of limited functions from the worlds of paging, email and instant messaging. In the simplest form of operation an SMS message is sent from one mobile entity to another mobile entity via a SMS Centre (SMSC).
SMS messages can be transmitted within the same mobile telephone network or to anyone with roaming service capability. They can also be sent to digital phones from a Web site (server) with an internet link or from one digital phone to another. Typical uses of SMS include interpersonal communication and notifying services to mobile phone owners. These notification services include message notifications related to arrival of voicemail, email and fax messages, and reminder services; email inter-working (this refers to allowing SMS message to be converted and sent as e-mail and vice-versa); paging inter-working; and information services such as weather reports, traffic reports, stock quotes, exchange rates etc.
Due to the popularity of SMS messaging new applications are being developed for example picture messaging and multi-media messaging applications, which pose considerable technical challenges to network operators. Additionally smart services or value added services for SMS are been developed like auto ‘on vacation’ response or copy/divert to E-mail amongst others. A problem with providing these services is that existing SMS Centre (SMSC) architectures are not suitable for implementing these new types of smart services. This has the result that network operators are reluctant to introduce these smart services as they affect the core SMSC architecture.
Another problem with the development of smart services for SMS messaging is that it is very difficult for mobile network operators (MNOs) to offer smart services for a SMS message, which originates from a subscriber belonging to other mobile network operator (MNO) and destined to his subscriber. For example Subscriber R belongs to MNO A. Subscriber S belongs to MNO B. MNO A wishes to offer Smart Services to his subscribers (one of them being R). When subscriber R receives a message originated from Subscriber S, the short message is delivered directly by the SMSC in the MNO B's network to Subscriber R. The SMSC in the MNO A's network has no knowledge of this messages. For this reason, MNO A cannot offer SMS based Smart Services implemented in a SMSC.
In addition mobile network operators seek to introduce these supplementary services to the person-to-person SMS services within their own network (i.e where the sender also belongs to the mobile network operator A), but are unable to do this in a manner which is transparent to the home SMSC (i.e. it does not involve a core SMSC architecture modification) and is technically difficult to achieve.
European Publication No. EP1255414 ‘Comverse’ discloses a system and method for enabling improved management of SMS messages, and in particular automatic replies, forwarding, filtering, saving and deleting of SMS messages on a wireless handset or alternative SMS enabled device. An SMS Center is used for managing SMS messages, an Auto-Reply Message Server (ARMS) stores Auto-Reply Messages and allows a message receiver to set up, change, or delete Auto-Reply Messages, and an SMS Automatic Handling Server (SAHS) handles message instructions for a message receiver. The ARMS and SAHS may be separate components, a unified component, and may be operational such that only one of them may be included in the system. However a problem with this type of system is that it does not allow for smart services associated with SMS termination to be implemented for SMS messages originating from a subscriber in one network to be delivered to a subscriber in another network, as the Comverse application requires special SMSC handling to check if an ARM is configured. The ‘Comverse’ system also involves a new query interface to the SMSC and therefore offering these types of services cannot be done in a manner transparent to the SMSC.
A further problem with offering Smart Services for SMS messages is how to handle retries of the SMS message originated in other network operators when the message fails to reach its intended recipient. This case arises where the original attempt fails, for example the recipient may be out of coverage and the remote SMSC will retry the message. The complication arises from the fact that there is nothing in the SMS message that indicates that it is a retry (e.g. a unique message ID which is repeated in the retry message). Unless detecting retries a node implementing SMS smart services (referred to as a SMS smart services control node) will see this message as a distinct and different message and will thus re-apply the same smart service to the same message. This may be highly undesirable from a service perspective. The problem is further exacerbated if the smart service control node were to implement specialised billing for a particular services and would result in a double charge.
Another problem with mobile device users is the receipt of unsolicited SPAM SMS messages. An increasing way for companies to target potential consumers is to send unsolicited text messages to users for services they do not require.